Susan Leal trying to make waves over water crisis

CATCHING UP With Susan Leal

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, October 21, 2010

Susan Leal a former SF supervisor, mayoral candidate, and former head of the PUC posses at Mountain Lake Park Tuesday, October 19, 2010, San Francisco, Calif.

Susan Leal a former SF supervisor, mayoral candidate, and former head of the PUC posses at Mountain Lake Park Tuesday, October 19, 2010, San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Adm Golub, The Chronicle

Image 2 of 3

Susan Leal a former SF supervisor, mayoral candidate, and former head of the PUC posses at Mountain Lake Park Tuesday, October 19, 2010, San Francisco, Calif.

Susan Leal a former SF supervisor, mayoral candidate, and former head of the PUC posses at Mountain Lake Park Tuesday, October 19, 2010, San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Adm Golub, The Chronicle

Image 3 of 3

Susan Leal a former SF supervisor, mayoral candidate, and former head of the PUC posses at Mountain Lake Park Tuesday, October 19, 2010, San Francisco, Calif.

Susan Leal a former SF supervisor, mayoral candidate, and former head of the PUC posses at Mountain Lake Park Tuesday, October 19, 2010, San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Adm Golub, The Chronicle

Susan Leal trying to make waves over water crisis

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Next time you see a Muni bus chugging up a San Francisco hill on recycled restaurant grease, thank Susan Leal. The former general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission drew friends and enemies for her passion over what most would rather ignore: wastewater and sewage treatment.

After leaving City Hall in 2008, where she also served two terms as treasurer and one on the Board of Supervisors, Leal, 60, entered an innovative "third career" leadership program at Harvard University.

She and Harvard Professor Peter Rogers collaborated on a recently released book, "Running Out of Water: The Looming Crisis and Solutions to Conserve Our Most Precious Resource."

Q:How bad is the global water crisis?

A: The planet is 70 percent covered by water, and we have access to 1 percent of that - that hasn't changed since the beginning of time. But now there are 6.7 billion of us trying to share that 1 percent. We're on track to hit 8 billion people by 2025. Finite source. Huge demand.

Q:If nothing changes, when do the experts say the tap will run dry?

A: You've asked the Big Question. Do you really want to wait around to find out?

Q:What about desalination?

A: That's only a safety- valve solution. It's expensive, it uses a lot of energy, and it's bad for the environment when you get rid of the brine.

Q:What are some of the solutions in your book?

A: We could learn a lot from Brazil and Orange County. Residents of the favelas (slums) worked with the Brazilian government to install an affordable sewer system. It took 5,000 meetings to get buy-in. Orange County figured out a way to treat and recycle sewer water to make it drinkable.

Q:Why are U.S. households the largest water users in the world?

A: Our water footprint is 1.5 times more than the developed world - 1,800 gallons per day per person - mainly because of the food we eat.

Q:What do you mean by water footprint?

A: Because we are affluent, we eat a lot of meat. It takes 630 gallons of water for an 8-ounce piece of beef. The cow's gotta eat a lot of alfalfa and grass and corn, and it takes a lot of water to raise those crops. As China moves more toward middle class, their beef consumption, and their water consumption, is now rising.

Q:Besides becoming a vegetarian, what can people do?

A: San Franciscans are wise to this issue - the utility really reached out to explain this. But stay engaged. The utility likes it when you ask questions about your bill and how this all works. Explain this to schoolchildren, so saving water becomes part of the consciousness. Ask politicians how they are complying with the Clean Water Act (of 1972).

Q:How is San Francisco's 70-year-old sewer system doing these days?

A: It's better. They have been making upgrades, and they are finishing the planning process for a major upgrade of the treatment plant in the Bayview. The only problem is it will take 10 to 15 years for such a huge infrastructure project.

Working with good people, like Lewis Harrison, who came up with the idea to keep restaurant grease from clogging the pipes by turning it into biodiesel. I wish I could have stayed longer to see the wastewater plant completed.

Q:What's next for you?

A: I want to keep moving with this book, helping leaders and everyday folk understand there are solutions to this.

Q: What did you want to be?

A: Quarterback for the 49ers after my brother took me to a Niners game. I was 6 years old. Surprisingly, the dream soon evaporated.

Q: First job?

A: Telephone operator for Pacific Bell.

Q: Childhood nickname?

A: Snops. I don't know what it means. Maybe I should ask my brother why he called me that.

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